Alaric learned of his power two years after his guardian had awakened. And soon after discovering it, he’d also found out that Old Thomper had deliberately clued him in.

Had it not been for the tree guardian, he would still be fighting over the topic with a female knight that still wasn’t happy with him learning of his power.

Alia’s reasons were more selfish than they were logical and for that reason, Alaric vowed to grow strong enough to need no other guardian’s power except for Alia’s.

Speaking of his Inborn Ability, simply put, Alaric’s power was intimately related to guardians. To hone in specifically on what its limits were was something even he hadn’t discovered yet.

Of course, Alia wasn’t willing to spell it out for him. So, Alaric had made his own experiments over the years.

From what he tried, he learned that he was able to speak to guardians as well as use their abilities if he got in contact with them. He’d also taken notice of how guardians reacted oddly around him.

Knowing all this made him wonder if he had multiple Inborn Abilities.

Was Alaric’s power too much for one person? Yes, he thought so.

It just didn’t make any sense. There were so many Abilities out there that could be of use to him in any number of ways. And yet, one faucet of his allowed him to copy other guardian’s abilities.

How was that normal?!

While the process of learning how to use other guardian’s abilities required a lot of training, focus and patience on his side, it still gave a much higher boost in power than any Inborn Ability he’d heard of.

It wasn’t just that he could learn a guardian’s abilities but rather he could connect with guardians on levels beyond anything documented and in turn, use his Inborn Ability to imitate their abilities even when it required physically changing his body.

Much like it was the case now that he’d merged with a forest, calling on Old Thomper’s power and using it to the best of his abilities.

Using the tree guardian’s power to the fullest was still too great a feat for Alaric to achieve. However, he could use them to a certain extent.

The forest roared, leaves rusted, branches groaned and the ground rumbled. Altogether, the trees swayed and their great stems growled.

All around the bandits, the forest seemed to run amok with action. It was as though the very forest had come to life.

“You said she wasn’t with them…” one of the bandits stuttered timidly.

“Get a grip of yourself. This isn’t that witch’s power,” Darth growled at the panicking man.

“Then explain all this,” the bandit screamed at the top of his voice.

“One of those brats already had a guardian awakened,” the man responded, “That’s the only explanation for this.”

“That’s impossible,” the third man interjected with an shaky tone, “Perhaps this is all just an illusion. I know… They were given a Frozen Spell and brats unleashed it here to cause a distraction while they ran… I will explain everything. Besides, we are all fine, aren’t we? The woods aren’t even attacking us directly….”

The man continued to ramble on, shifting his perspective and trying to find better explanations for their situation. He almost sounded like a broken record… or at least, the replay of a confused string of thoughts that never seemed to fully form.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

He was so absorbed in his discussion that he let his guard down and didn’t notice the insidious tree vine creeping up behind him.

The other bandits noticed and moved further away from their oblivious comrade and stared at the space behind him. It took the man a few moments for him to notice the change in their demeanour.

“What are you looking at? Why are you looking at me like that?” the man suddenly yelled at them.

The dark-skinned man with piercings in his face smirked, “You know, Donnie. You talk too much.”

‘Donnie’ turned around just in time to see a tree vine rushing for him. The thick vine quickly constricted around him in a serpentine grip.

Drawing on the power of his aether, the mercenary ripped the vine apart with a smirk, “That’s not enough to hold me, brat!”

Before he could let the vine fall to the ground, two vines sprung the stump and began to coil around his arm.

The smile vanished as the man ripped those off himself as well. Like a plague, more replaced the vines he tore.

For each vine he broke, two more grew in its place, spreading even faster around his body in different directions.

The other bandits attempted to come and help, however, before they could take a step forward, they soon came to realise that their entire lower bodies were tightly bound by vines that had crept up on them as they watched their friend’s torment.

Alaric’s mind was fractured a few hundred times as he implemented the same attack in at least ten places at once, stalling the converging group of bandits that were responding to the loud magical whistle.

“Still think I’m bluffing?” Alaric’s voice rumbled again.

The men grunted and sneered, looking around for any source of the voice that tormented them, “Show yourself, you little coward!”

Alaric focused harder, binding them in tight bundles of vines. His fractured vision, however, only made his stomach—if he still had any—turn.

The woods were still far from secure and from all directions, more slayers approached. Using the spell from earlier, he communicated with his friends.

[There are more of them. Try to stay off the ground.]

Alaric’s perception in this form was warped in so many ways and to a degree that even he, the user of this power still struggled to fathom.

Thomper was on the powerful side of guardians and his abilities were truly devastating, especially in a place where there were so many trees around.

Alaric still remembered the strain of using this ability the first time. His body and mind couldn’t handle the strain of his own ability at the time… and so he had to train… and train… and train.

Under Alia’s supervision, his dreams became attainable little by little.

In little over a year, he’d managed to use a fraction of Thomper’s power. It took even longer to master that which he could use now.

When in this form, his consciousness was spread all over the area of the forest within his influence… and in that area, he reigned supreme.

Alaric captured one bandit after the other, binding them tightly within the vines.

Those that had arrived with their guardians experienced a similar outcome despite their abilities. The vines weren’t going anywhere. When they were cut, they grew back, when they were burnt, new ones took their places and when there was an attempt to cut a tree at the stem, the vegetation weaved itself back together and kept attacking.

The whole battle seemed to be going in Alaric’s favour… until something unexpected happened.

The boy noticed some of the bandits he’d captured were starting to melt and turn into black sludge, much like the transformation the first one had gone through when they met him.

The only problem was, this time, they didn’t change their faces.

‘So changing his appearance had nothing to do with his ability,’ Alaric thought to himself.

Then again, there was always one limitation to spells that abilities didn’t have. Spells used aether… while abilities rarely did.

Even now, Alaric didn’t rely on aether to maintain the use of Thomper’s power. Rather, he would have to endure the strain the ability had on his physical body.

Inborn Abilities were less like magical spells and more like muscles.

The bandits that turned to sludge evaporated as a black mist and shot away, all shooting straight for one place at the periphery of Alaric’s fractured vision.

Alaric’s nerves churned as he realised something was terribly wrong.

The forest shuddered.

Alaric paid attention to the source of the forest’s reaction.

The culprit soon became very clear when a man dressed in a black overcoat finally stepped onto the scene.

Black mist converged around him and a black lightless scythe rested diagonally on his back.

Alaric didn’t know how… but he knew this man was dangerous. Having an A-class guardian didn’t necessarily mean a slayer was powerful.

Alaric had heard this before… but he had never once met a person that defied that law so masterfully as the monster he witnessed now.

The man exuded a cold aura of destruction and death, his very presence chilling the world around him. The mist from all the bandits that had disintegrated was vanishing into him, with each passing second, his aura grew more vast and deadly.

When he lifted his head, he seemed to stay right into the heart of Alaric’s split vision, locking eyes with him… something that shouldn’t have been possible.

“A monster like you… shouldn’t be allowed to exist,” the man said in a serious tone.